EVANESCENCE, SCHILLINGS, SAM SMITH AND THE RULE OF LAW

That this House notes that Schillings acting for Amy Lynn Lee Hartzler, the lead singer of the band Evanescence, and her manager Andrew Lurie of 110 Management threatened Sam Smith with legal action unless he agreed to enter into a contract not to report allegations of criminal activity, including abuse and sexual predation and illegal drug use on the band's EvThreads website; recognises that the allegations have not been tested in a court although there is evidence to support them; believes that threats of legal action and the consequential threat of legal costs being claimed should not be used to prevent allegations of wrongdoing being reported to the police or other authorities; further believes that legal actions that prevent information getting to regulatory authorities (including the police) act contrary to the rule of law; calls on the Government to introduce legislationto ensure that such legal actions are considered to be criminal in nature as they are in the US (US Penal Code, Title 18, Part 1, Chapter 73, 1512 (b)(3)); and calls for the band to release Mr Smith from the contract so that he can pass the allegations to the authorities.